Hi, I have a question. Do the “Likes” we give to PokéStops no longer count toward assigning them as Gyms once the requirements are met?
The question arises because, after carefully setting up the PokéStops and acquiring the second Gym, we liked the PokéStop we wanted to convert into a Gym; however, another PokéStop was assigned far from our area.
I believe it’s now meant to be randomised due to people trying to influence with the 
Influencing " like" to make gym is considered abuse so its now random
Where is there information about this?
It may have been mentioned on the old forums but I’d have to call on someone smarter than me @cyndiepooh to see if that was the case.
Now this is getting interesting, I think we need a 
reaction on this forum (please!).
So far, I haven’t seen any confirmation of the following statements:
Other factors might prevent the pokemon algorithm from selecting the best or most popular wayspot. In particular, timing, inherited ingress likes, or the presence of a pokemon showcase.
not smarter, but i do have the wayback link to the statement that this is considered abuse:
Trying to manipulate gym abuse statement Wayback link:
NianticAaronNianticAaron Posts: 373Niantic › admin March 2021
Hey @gazzas89-PGO, It has never been an intention to be able to manipulate the in-app map to ensure a certain Wayspot becomes a Gym. Any attempt to do so is actually considered to be Wayfarer abuse and could result in your Wayfarer account termination.We treat all in-game locations equally and they all need to meet our criteria. Our density and inclusion criteria determine which Wayspot should be included in our games and it should remain that way. Thanks,
I certainly am not going to contribute to a discussion about whether something that has been called abuse by staff still works. I do know that Showcase stops will not become gyms. I am not ready to say that it is confirmed to be random, though, since WDD has stopped doing research on this issue.
Thank you. 
Knew you’d have the link somewhere about it.
From my experience with a local L14 cell, the 2nd Wayspot created i that cell became a gym. It’s possible that the 2nd, 6th, and 20th Wayspots added to an L14 cell become the gyms, but again, this is just my experience and not for certain.
I personally don’t think that liking photos should be used to determine gyms, as that could get into some tricky territory. All the likes do is help to choose what photo is the main photo for the stop/gym, and I think that’s fair (well, unless it’s an older stop/gym with those hidden Ingress votes). Liking to get a gym could become a battle between teams in PoGo, and some may then try to get them removed from the game entirely due to how others are voting on certain stops, and then someone may have to request restoration in the Wayspot Appeals thread.
I don’t think we want to see an increase in the restoration requests, and possible team wars breaking out in PoGo for what stops become gyms.
IMO: Spacing should have some bearing on Gym creation.
See many S14 Cells where all the Gyms are located at one end with none at the other end even though there are Stops that could have been used.
Suppose random is the fairest option.
A resyncing of gyms from time to time wouldn’t be such a bad thing, and it could actually encourage exploratiohn of some of the other Wayspots a bit more if they were gyms. It can get a bit boring having the same gyms all the time, but don’t know how often they should be shuffled around.
This would be disastrous for most communities that meet up to do raid events/hours. People know where to meet, how to get to the next gym, etc. Randomizing that would make leading raid hour even more work for the PGO Community Ambassadors.
I agree with you. I asked because it’s better to locate gyms in safe areas where we can raid them without risking our safety. I’ve seen gyms in the middle of the road, and although I’ve reported some, others refuse to remove them.
I’m not saying change them everyday. Maybe every season or once/twice a year. That would allow for players to be notified, and to plan accordingly.
Only Wayfarer can remove Wayspots, so if you get a rejected removal request, you can post in the Wayspot Appeals thread. You don’t need other players to agree with you about removal: if you believe a Wayspot should be removed, then request removal.
I doubt the wayspot is actually in the middle of the road becausr that mean it doesnt have pedestrian access, which mean you should edit it location to correct location 1st. But if the object is gone, or in a roundabout, you can report it for removal
Not changing them is a much better option full stop in my opinion.
The in game thing that gets me walking more than ever and visiting as many wayspots as I can is a good research task - not too rare, reasonable to complete with a good Pokemon at the end of it. I will walk and cover miles 
and visit lots of wayspots.
Not to mention about gym badge too. What if its almost push out the limit but its no longer a gym lol
Less than a week ago I created a new pokestop. It was the the 6th one in the cell. The pokestop that became the 2nd gym was the pokestop with the most likes.